Emanuel R. Kyser

Emanuel Ray Kyser

Portfolio & Project 1

March 25, 2018

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                                    Final Composition 1

 

            My influence was “Bryndis”, after hearing the sound of the saxophone in Logic PRO X, it reminded me of the Spanish romantic music group “Bryndis”. After composing bars 17 through 24, it reminded me of the tracks that Rick Ross the rapper uses. This piece touches my soul, especially after playing saxophone for two years. The feel connects with jazz, soul, romantic, ballad, and lullaby. I let a friend hear it, and he described this musical piece being in a scene of a film where a couple, which is in love, arrives to a scenic destination, like a honeymoon or vacation of some sort. The preferred media would be TV/Film industry.

 

            I wanted to find an authentic drums sound, so, an original drum set was used; pre-recorded by the DAW, yet MIDI editable. The meter is 4/4 timing, otherwise known as common time. Structure was based on harmony to create melody, harmony and kick to create bass. The rhythm becomes complex as the piece progresses, to provide variation and entertainment to the listener, even a trained ear can comprehend; each drum sound individually played to provide a realistic drummer.

 

The first 8 bars are in C major, the next 8 bars “borrow” from C minor, and completely kicks into C minor for the third set of 8 bars, then back to the first 8 bars as a loop would. Allow me to list the chord progression notation;

A Section | C | F  | G | G | C | F | Gmin | G |

B Section | C| F | G | G | C |Fmin   | G| G7 |

C Section | Fmin | Bbmin | Cmin | Cmin7 | Fm sus2 | Bbmin | Cmin7 | Cmin |

D Section | C | F  | G | G | C | F | Gmin | G .

The harmony was essential to the making of the melody, including notes that intercept but are within key. During “Section C,” the melody was mainly created from the relative key (C minor), while still considering root notes from the harmony.

 

            Audio is carefully set for no clipping during mixing. The original sound is like a piano, but has that digital tone that is sought for. For recording, I would first practice playing in key, depending on the section, record what matched, and edit and quantize in the piano roll. The only obstacle is time; under pressure, the necessary comes to be, but with a bit of extended time the piece is a true masterpiece.

 

            In mixing view, the faders are well adjusted for maximum dynamic variation and distinction between instrument/track levels. Equalizers are set for differing frequencies on loud instrument, such as bass, kick, snare. Compressors are set on those same essential instruments, at a minimum of 2 1/2 db or more. Reverb and Delay are set on their own aux tracks, that way the amount and level each track sent to those time-based processed effects are controlled.

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